The invention relates first to a stack of interconnected, elongated bags of plastic foil or film, particularly newspaper bags, with preferably at least one additional pocket and with a suspension element in the area of the insertion opening of the bag, which has at least one suspension opening and which is detachably connected with other bags in the stack.
The invention also relates to the manufacture of such bags and particularly to a method and apparatus for making such bags and pads of such bags.
Bags of the mentioned kind are used especially for the extensive protection of newspapers, magazines or the like against weather influences. Frequently these elongated bags have an additional pocket, into which a diskette or the like can be introduced.
As a rule, the bags are assembled in stacks or pads of 10 to 20 pieces, and up to a maximum of 25 pieces and are held together by a grip handle made of cardboard. This grip handle, serving as a suspension element, is fastened with staples or clips to the margin of a tear-off strap.
In practice such a stack is carried along by a delivery person, who first fills the bag with a magazine or newspaper, if this was not previously done, and then tears the filled bag off the stack, in order to deliver it to a place accessible to the recipient.
The use of three different materials, namely cardboard for the grip handle, iron for the staples or clips and plastic material for the actual bag results in considerable recycling expenses, since the mentioned materials have to be collected separately from each other. Besides the production of such bags is quite complicated, so that in practice such bags can be produced only at a cycling speed of approximately 40 to 60 per minute.
It is the object of the invention to provide a stack of several interconnected elongated bags of plastic foil, particularly newspaper bags, which can be easily transported and handled.
It is also an object to provide a method for the production of such bags which can be interconnected in stacks and which makes possible simple and cost-effective production.
A further object is to provide a device which uses widely known elements and allows the production of the mentioned bags with comparatively high cycling speeds.
These objects are achieved in accordance with the invention in that the suspension element is formed by a unilaterally projecting tear-off segment of plastic foil. This tear-off segment can for instance be formed by a separate strip fused with the one bag wall in the area of the insertion opening, basically parallel to a perforation line. This insertion opening can be advantageously closed by means of a drawstring or a rain-protection flap.
On the side of the bag opposite to the insertion opening a pocket can be attached and the pocket can have a unilaterally projecting flap at its filling opening which is basically parallel with the insertion opening. The flap can optionally be made in one piece from the pocket material and provided on its inside with an adhesive strip which can be covered with a protective or masking strip.
The connection means for interconnecting the individual bags in the stack can be formed as a interlocking device and, in addition, a strap unwinding mechanism can be provided. Because of the continuous feeding of a strap strip a comparatively high cycling speed can be achieved, for instance of 100 to 125 cycles/minute.
The device can have two fusion separation tools arranged substantially transversely with respect to the direction of the advance motion of the plastic foil or film webs, which move synchronously up and down. The collection mechanism arranged downstream in the direction of the advance motion of the plastic foil webs can have pin-type stacking belts of a pin-type stacker, wherein the bags with the strap strips are taken up by the stacker belts, whereby, until they reach the stacker belts, the bags are held by the pins of the transport belts and are knocked off by a take-down device in the area of the pin-type stacking conveyor, and afterwards are interlocked in the area of the strap.
More particularly, the bag stack can comprise:
a plurality of elongated plastic foil bags each having a pair of opposite sides and formed with an insertion opening through which an article is insertable into the respective bag, one of the sides only of each bag being formed with a suspension element detachable from the respective bag, the suspension elements being interconnected to retain the bags in the stack and being formed with aligned suspension openings proximal to the insertion openings.
The insertion opening can open into elongated pouches shaped to receive a respective newspaper and each of the sides of each of the bags can be formed with the respective pocket separate from the respective pouch. The suspension elements themselves may be separate strips fused to one of the bag walls in the area of the insertion opening substantially parallel to a perforation line between the respective suspension element and bag. The suspension strap or strip can be fused to the inside or outside of the bag walls and each of the bags can be provided with a drawstring or a rain protection flap with an adhesive strip. The pocket may be attached to the end of the bag opposite the insertion opening and can also have a unilaterally projecting flap along a filling opening which is substantially parallel to the insertion opening and through which a computer disk or the like can be inserted into the pocket. The flap can be made in one piece of the same material as the pocket, preferably a transparent film or foil. The pocket flap can be provided along an inner surface with an adhesive strip which can, if desired, be covered by a protective or masking strip.